Domains, hosting and email, explained like a normal person

Web people throw these words around as if everyone was born knowing them. Two minutes here and you'll never be confused in one of those conversations again.

The three things, in plain terms

• Domain: your address. yourbusiness.co.uk. You rent it yearly, usually £10 to £20. It's how people find you.
• Hosting: your premises. A computer somewhere that holds your website files and serves them to visitors. Typically £5 to £30 a month for a small business.
• Business email: your letterbox on that address. hello@yourbusiness.co.uk instead of yourbusiness99@gmail.com. Often included with hosting, sometimes a few pounds a month. It quietly does a lot for how professional you look.

The mistake that holds businesses hostage

Letting someone else register your domain in their name. It happens constantly: a designer or a mate sets everything up, years pass, you fall out or they vanish, and suddenly your web address, the one on your van and your business cards, legally isn't yours.

The fix is simple and worth doing today: make sure the domain is registered to you, in an account you control, with your own email. Everything else is replaceable. The domain isn't.

Renewals: the boring thing that takes sites down

Most "my website disappeared" emergencies are an expired card on a renewal. Put the renewal dates in your calendar and keep the payment method current. That's it.

Weak hosting also shows up as a slow site, and slow is measurable. The free SiteMOT check includes how quickly your site responds, so if your hosting is letting you down, you'll see it in the numbers.